wds trends 2014

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

1/13

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

2/13

WDS Mobile Trends 2014

www.wds.co

At the beginning of each year we put our reputation on the line to identify 10 key

trends we expect to shape the mobile industry over the coming 12 months.

This is the fth year weve run our annual trends and so far our predictions seem to have been on-target.

Sure, we dont get everything rightbut last year our view of Androids broader role in the consumer electronics

industry, the continued relevance of feature phones and a slow-down in patent litigation have all rung-true to

a certain extent.

To kick o 2014 weve compiled a fresh set of predictions. Some will be familiar; others may take you by

surprise. Of course we welcome your comments. Let us know if you agree or disagree with this years list.

@wdscompany

Mobile Trends 2014

Contents

wdscompany

wds.co/blog

wdspodcast

5 Smartphone manufacturers ex their muscles

7 iOS and Android hit the road

9 Chinese smartphones come of age

11 Sportswear manufacturers lead the charge in wearable tech

13 Your call is important to us

15 Respect my privacy

17 Mega-mergers

19 Camera resolutions reignite the spec war

21 Batteries nally get a boost

23 Social sentiment improves decision making

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

3/13

WDS | Mobile Trends 2014

TrendsMobile

The form factor of todays smartphone has

stagnated, which makes the potential for exible

materials all the more exciting.

Its still early days and while we saw some interesting

announcements in 2013, we dont expect to see

agship devices sporting exible displays this year.

However, 2014 will be the year of experimentation

with OEMs exploring curved devices, wrap-aroundscreens, dierent shaped devices and devices that

can ex.

Some will be li ttle more than a gimmick or design-

concept, but by the end of the year we should

have a better idea of the true benets delivered by

exible components, and be ready for more serious

contenders in 2015.

Expect Asian brands to lead the charge on this

technology with devices from LG and Samsung

showing early innovation.

Smartphone manufacturers ex their muscles

1Flexible

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

4/13


TrendsMobile

Hyundai, Kia, Tesla and Mini have already

announced the integration of smartphone OS

platforms in their upcoming launches and we

expect this trend to spread like wild re across the

automotive industry.

Today, automotive brands implement dierent

proprietary OS platforms to power their in-car

computers and multimedia systems. As such, they

have a closed system that users cant modify.By implementing smartphone OS platforms,

automotive brands can expand the possibilities of

interaction between the driver and the car.

The two big contenders are iOS and Android, with

both announcing automotive partnerships and

development projects.

Obvious (and immediate) benets will focus

on smarter multimedia applications for in-car

entertainment, with music and video integrated

closely with passenger devices, cloud storage

accounts and content libraries. Also, look out for

location and mapping applications as well as social

check-ins.

By next year, as the volume of connected cars

increases, well see the arrival of an entirely newapp ecosystem; supporting the needs of the driver

through entertainment, telemetry, navigation and

more.

iOS and Android hit the road

2Vrroom

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

5/13


TrendsMobile

Chinese brands are hitting the market hard with

impressive devices at very competitive price

points.

Historically, Chinese manufacturers have posed the

greatest threat at the low-end of the smartphone

market but this year we can expect to see increased

competition at the high-end. However, despite high-

quality implementations and the latest specs, price

will remain the primary weapon.

As such, by the end of the year we expect that three

of the top ve smartphone manufacturers (by

shipment volume) will be Chinese.

In 2013 Samsung and Apple held their lead and we

expect they will continue to do so in 2014. However,

3rd, 4th and 5th positions remain unsteady and by

the end of 2014 we predict Huawei, Lenovo and ZTE

will secure all three spots.

Chinese smartphones come of age

3China

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

6/13


TrendsMobile

Wearable tech was the buzzword of 2013, but this

year we expect tech brands to step it up a gear

and launch wearables designed to be worthy of a

more discerning wish list.

Like exible displays, 2014 is perhaps a little too

early for us to condently predict a mass-market

explosion of wearable tech. However, it will remain a

key focus for many companies, attracting start-ups,

investment and exploration by a wider ecosystem ofbrands.

Of course, well see continued innovation around

high-prole products such as the Samsung Gear

and Google Glass. However 2014 will see more

innovative applications of biometric technology

embedded within sportswear, with companies such

as Nike, Apple and Fitbit leading the charge.

More interesting will be how established clothing

brands partner with technology brands. Will luxury

brands embrace or reject the idea of wearable tech?

Sportswear manufacturers lead the charge in wearable tech

4Wearables

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

7/13


TrendsMobile

Automated customer care and technical support

will become more intelligent as several key

technologies converge around the support

industry.

Being able to automate customer care and technical

support has long held many promises for brands

looking to reduce their support costs; and for

customers wanting an ecient means of resolving a

problem. However the reality has never quite lived upto the promise. Rambling IVR systems, overwhelming

online knowledge bases and less-than-intelligent

online support avatars have frustrated customers

for years. However 2014 is the beginning of the

end for these technologies as automated customer

support gets turned on its head.

Due to the cost of running traditional support

environments (staed by thousands of people) the

support business is one of those industries that

attracts a surprising amount of R&D investment.

Today, a number of complementary technologies

are beginning to mature and converge around the

industry. Voice recognition, sentiment analysis,

machine learning and natural language processing

have all come of age to deliver more accurate,

automated support solutions that could shave

millions of dollars o a brands annual support bill.

Were talking about automated support interfaces

able to understand the context of a question,identify sentiment and interpret a natural

conversation while self-learning and factoring-in

customer preferences (time of day, location, etc), to

ensure a right-rst-time solution.

Your call is important to us

5Smart

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

8/13


TrendsMobile

Technology brands are at the center of a privacy

debate, caught between government protocol and

their customers best interests.

Privacy was a big issue in 2013. In particular, people

began to understand just how much of their data

was open to being monitored by government

agencies around the world. Consumer sensitivity

has since increased and its the tech brands that are

hurting the most.

People wont use technology they dont trust,

said Brad Smith, Microsofts general counsel, in a

statement to the US Congress. Governments have

put this trust at risk, and governments need to help

restore it.

Brands including Apple, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter,

AOL and LinkedIn have joined Google and Mi crosoft

in mounting a public campaign to limit government

surveillance and protect their c ustomers.

We expect 2014 to bring greater transparency on

the collection and usage of data as well as new

functionality within well-known services that place

privacy controls front-and-center, handing power

back to the consumer.

Respect my privacy

6Privacy

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

9/13


TrendsMobile

Mobile operators around the world will further

consolidate in a bid to combat slow growth,

increasing costs and shareholder demands.

In 2013 we saw mass consolidation of the US market;

AT&T bought Leap Wireless, T-Mobile bought

MetroPCS, Softbank bought Sprint and Sprint

bought out its remaining stake in Clearwire.

In Europe, the year started with regulatory approval

of a merger between Hutchinson and Orange in

Austria by the European Commission; creating a

highly concentrated Austrian mobile market. We

also saw Telefonica buy E-Plus in Germany.

Many have seen these deals as the start of

something bigger; a more relaxed regulatory

framework that has traditionally protected

competition by maintaining consumer choice.

While the US is likely to settle down in 2014, we

predict a hotbed of activity in Europe with at least

one non-European buyer looking to make its mark

on the continent.

Further aeld, keep an eye on Africa where

consolidation will be a viable (although dicult)

means of improving returns for struggling mobile

operators. Also, Australias large number of MVNOs

is creating real pressure for consolidation.

Mega-mergers

7Fusion

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

10/13


TrendsMobile

In the early days of the smartphone, camera

resolutions were at the center of the spec-war.

It was a key dierentiator in a sea of identi-kit

devices.

By 2012 things had begun to settle down and

resolutions normalized between 8-12 megapixels.

Then, in 2013, Nokia bought us a feat of engineering

genius with a 41 megapixels camera phone (the

Nokia Lumia 1020); and the race was back on.

We have already seen Sony deliver a 20.7 megapixel

camera in its agship Xperia Z1 and the l ikes

of Samsung and Apple are expected to deliver

signicant improvements on their current camera

specs, each sporting cameras in the region of 20

megapixels. However, for 2014 at least, we expect

that smartphone cameras with 30+ megapixels will

reside within a niche segment of the market, rather

than in key agship devices.

As smartphone cameras move beyond the point-

and-shoot market and into something a little

more serious, we should also expect improvements

to camera software with greater control over

exposure, shutter speed, ISO, white balance and

focus. Likewise expect optical image stabilization

technology to trickle down into mid-range devices.

Camera resolutions reignite the spec war

8Smile

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

11/13


TrendsMobile

When it comes to innovation, the humble battery

has been neglected. However, we predict 2014

to be the year we receive the news weve all been

waiting for.

Battery technology has been falling behind in recent

years. The stock answer has simply been to increase

the battery capacity, granting the user another hour

of usage (at best).

Poor battery performance is one of the unfortunate

compromises we all have to make as we demand

faster, bigger and higher resolution devices.

However, scientists the world over are racing to

extend the boundaries of lithium battery technology.

Over the last year, weve seen signicant

advancements in the development of silicon super-

capacitors that promise full re-charge in minutes

with battery life that lasts for weeks.

Its a long-shot, but this year we expect the

technology to be further developed for commercial

use and the l aunch of a super-capacitor powered

smartphone to be announced by the end of the year.

We can all but hope.

Batteries nally get a boost

9Oomph

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

12/13


TrendsMobile

Using social media for customer engagement is

so 2013.

The huge volume of social trac passing through

platforms such as Twitter has been largely untapped

as a source of customer insight.

While brands have matured in their use of

social tools to communicate with, and

even support, customers, most have

been unable to cut through petabytes

of noise to understand customer

sentiment in a way that can improve

internal decision making.

However, the technology matured quickly in the

last half of 2013 and we expect more and more

brands to start building social sentiment into

their product development lifecycles and business

planning processes; keeping track of product /

service performance, monitoring customers feature

requests, analyzing buying habits and even acting as

an early warning system for potential support issues.

Social sentiment improves decision making

Social

10

8/12/2019 Wds Trends 2014

13/13

WDS, A Xerox Company is the trading name of Wireless Data Services Ltd registered in England and Wales with company number 01714719.

Registered address - Wireless Data Services Limited, 160 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4AN. VAT number GB 911330278.

While every care has been taken to ensure that the information in this document is correct, WDS cannot accept (and hereby disclaims) any responsibility for loss or damage caused by

errors or omissions. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced without the prior permission of WDS. Copyright: WDS 2014

www.wds.co

wds trends 2014

Documents